Gender gap in earnings at record low

The earnings gap between men and women has shrunk to a record low, partly because many women are prospering and partly because men have been hit hard by the recession.

Women earned 82.8 percent of the median weekly wage of men in the second quarter of 2010, up from 76.1 percent for the same period a decade ago and the highest ever recorded, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

The Census Bureau on Thursday will release a more comprehensive look at earnings differences between men and women. But a USA Today analysis of current data shows dramatic changes short-term and long-term.

Men have been losing jobs at a faster rate than women in the recession because of troubles in manufacturing, construction and other industries, says economist Robert Drago, research director at the Institute for Women's Policy Research. By contrast, job loss has been slow in government and health care, which tend to employ more women.

Women, who now make up 49.7 percent of the workforce, have outpaced men in the past 10 years in nearly every category:

 Race. Women outperformed men in every race and ethnic group. The median weekly wage for Black women rose 8.8 percent from 2000 to 2009 after adjusting for inflation, while wages for Black men fell 2.4 percent.

 Age. No matter the age, women did better. For example, women 35 to 44 saw wages rise 11.5 percent after inflation from 2000 to 2009 compared with a 1.2 percent increase for men. Despite the gains, women of that age still earn about $200 less per week than the typical man.

 Occupation. Women have been moving into high-paying professional jobs such as accountants, lawyers and physicians. Men have been moving just as fast into relatively low-paying jobs - bank tellers, switchboard operators, librarians - long dominated by women.